Psych on Psych

I’m in the best mood in the world today. I’ve dropped Social Psychology (as I’ve already taken it on the 200 level last year) and have replaced it with Cognitive Psychology. Therefore, my two courses this spring will be Cognitive Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience.

I guess I’m in such a good mood because I found out that I’m only 8 courses away from receiving my B.S. in Psychology. EIGHT. This changes my “take two years off” plans just a bit. I thought I was still 20+ classes away but dang. I’m almost there.

So then, I’m still going to be taking a break this semester (for me, that means going half-time rather than full-time) and then this fall, after having the entire summer off, I’ll jump back in full-time (4 classes) and do the same thing in the spring of ’16 and then voila! I’ll have my bachelor’s. As I’ve already stated, I made the Dean’s List last semester, so if I’m able to maintain that throughout the next year, I’ll have my pick (pretty much) for my Master’s program. Making the Dean’s List is not just about ego! It’s “academic security”. Why would anybody want to work in a factory line when they can have an office?

Another thing I’m considering is Anthropology. I was raised on Nat. Geo.’s and so that stuff is in my blood. I’m a closet sociologist so I’m entertaining the idea of working on a Master’s in Anthropology with a concentration in Sociology. Either that, or I’ll stick it out in Psychology and work on my Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology, specializing in OCD neuroses and perhaps choose to freelance- working with hoarders and other OCD-based disorders or even “Skype-therapy”. Here’s my personal theory: going in to a clinical environment (i.e. therapist’s “office” with motivational posters on the wall) will produce “clinical results”. It’s comfortable to the therapist, because he or she spends a great deal of time there. They eat there, they write there, they chart the patients there. But for the patient, or “client” (so very 2015 and politically correct), it’s a foreign environment and it makes one feels as if they’re sitting in their Aunt Ida’s bedroom, being uncomfortably interrogated. Why not spend an hour of that patient’s time in an environment where he or she is comfortable and better able to express themselves? These days, the average person spends much of their free time either on their cell phones or laptops- which means- the average person spends much of his or her free time in any area of a social media platform: Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. or texting.

My last 3 visits to the doctor proved my theory (sort of) in that 75 % of all people were on their cell phones for the duration of my wait in the waiting room. 75! Those people won’t likely be reading a book or putting puzzles together in their spare time. They’ll be on their cell phones or laptops at home too. So why not focus on a therapy program that allows people to log in on Skype for an hour? I know that this type of therapy does exist already, but it’s in its infancy. People need face time with therapists- I agree. But going to meet a therapist, whom you’ve never before met, and sitting in a sterile environment is very much like going on a blind date and going straight back to the date’s house; it might be pretty uncomfortable. People like to “build up” to that stage. Why does therapy have to be different? We’re dealing with psychologically and emotionally fragile people (for the most part). Being a former patient, I can tell you it’s damn uncomfortable going to a therapist’s office and her asking straightaway, “Why are you here? What do you expect to get out of therapy?”

Future therapists: Don’t ever say this to your clients! it’s pretty off putting. Better to tell them that you’re glad to see them and explain what YOU hope to gain from meeting with them (so that they might feel welcome and comfortable) and it also gives the client an idealistic outline or shape of what they can expect. I digress.

So yes. Skype therapy for perhaps the first 5 sessions so that the client can feel comfortable before taking that next step of “leaving their house to go to a therapist’s office”. Walking in on a cold call visit, basically, can heighten anxiety in itself. Skyping first would build a structurally sound foundation of trust so that the client would know what to expect to some degree. Why hasn’t the psychological world realized this and integrated it into their practicum/interum already? As I mentioned, it’s in its infancy still, so I’m in a good place to better explore this area academically. I wouldn’t mind doing my own investigative surveys on the subject in the future.

Any way it goes, I’m really close to obtaining my bachelor’s so I’ve got a new found desire to push on, and I’m excited about it. Bipolar Barbie- if you’re reading this, don’t look over your shoulder cause I’m right behind you! 🙂

Another reason I’m in such a good mood is that I’m now sleeping in the most awesome bed in the world. It feels like I’m floating on clouds all night; the mattress is a pillow top, but still firm. It’s pure heaven! And it doesn’t hurt having a human meat pillow that’s as gorgeous as Josh too…

7 responses

Yay and Hooray for you! You are kicking ass just like I wished for you and rpedicted lots of psots ago!
I have to agree on the Therapy thing. It is highly uncomfortable,not only because it is a foreign enviroment and you have to open up to a stranger you are constantly reminded is also a ‘head doctor’, but also because those rooms always look the same. Like you described, motivational posters, same questions being asked, their behaviour and expectations are the same – while we cannot debate that people with problems are not all the same and the one same approach doesn’t work (neither does just giving the ‘happy pills’ and dismissing the patient forever, which is becoming a trend where I live…)
I agree about rhe Sky calls too. So many people pay for other Skype based courses and similar and a very large number of them uses those classes just to talk to another human being. Why is this yet not turned into a form of Therapy is beyond me, when I bet people like you could help those callers more then lets say me or random Joe who thought he is about to teach someone Italian.

Exactly! We’re still doing psychology like it’s 1935, it’s really silly and it’s less effective than psychiatrists and psychologists will admit to. You know, O, you brought up an important point: The medical/psychological world is following a scary trend, which is allowing a bulk amount of patients fall through the cracks. I know sometimes this is due to patients not following through with their treatment plan, but sometimes, those treatments plans aren’t at all what a patient needs. Again, you bring up another great point which is the APA (American psychological Association) tries to apply the “one size fits all” treatment plan for a good many patients- it’s textbook crap. So many of them don’t LISTEN to their patients. They watch for body language and verbal cues and such and then the patient is categorized, classified, and filed after a battery of pen and paper tests- it’s rubbish! I was a patient in the psych. chair for 15+ years- there’s no such thing as “listening to the patient and working out a non-pharmaceutical interum”. They chart you and medicate you and shove you through the turnstyle. God forbid you should ever actually have to do any time on the actual Behavioral Health unit- “clinical/sterile environment” is just the beginning. They make you feel inhumane- even cracking jokes as if you’re not there. Just awful. I don’t know what “the answers” are, but I can’t respect somebody running the show (psychologist/psychiatrist) who’s “college educated only”. I want to know somebody’s been there too. THAT’S a testimony…

I guess the problem behind all these categorizations done by APA is a lack of concern about the root cause. There is a root cause for any peculiar psychological behaviour. Categorizing patients on the basis of behaviour focuses on the symptom and ignores the root problem. It can act as a checkpoint, but that’s what it should be limited to. Every patient is unique since they have had an exposure to different environments.

Here here! Well noted and spoken and I must agree. Very much like Oloriel said, every person will behave in a different manner- including people who have similar or like disorders. As you pointed out, because each person has varying schemas (and personalized and unique experiences growing up), each person’s disorder may be dissimilar too. You too bring up many good points. Thanks for joining the discussion. :0)